Question HOW does it take this long?

[Hesei]

I've been up to date on this manga for a little over four years, now. I know the drill. We go for great lengths of time without even a hint of when the next chapter will be out. I've seen the posts begging for info on the next release and blah blah blah.

I've been content to just bear it like everyone else, but there is one thing that still bugs me.

What I still don't understand is how the publisher allows for such dry spells. This isn't uniquely Miura, but he is the one that matters to me!

Is Berserk just such a fan favorite that they are okay with the highly irregular schedule?

I just don't understand how the publisher of any manga (particularly this one) can accept having an (forgive me) unreliable mangaka... am I using that right?

Has there ever been anything said about the publisher getting impatient or taking a stern position?


All that aside, I'm happy to have finally registered. This particular forum has always been a great help!

 

[The Red Dog]

OMG Another Miuralcoholic

We should build a foundation lol

 

[Kaiten]

Has there ever been anything said about the publisher getting impatient or taking a stern position?

His contract with the publisher allows him to go this long between chapters. Mangaka are paid by the page. He would need contractual consent to go this long between chapters and still earn a living wage. Even if he is not paid enough to make a living, his contract would stipulate how many chapters he owes the publisher per year.

 

[Hesei]

Ah, okay. Didn't realize the pay/page thing.

I get that his contract would cover his minimum, but it just seemed remarkably low, recently. That's all.

Thanks.


"Another Miuralcoholic"
Yeah, okay. I'm confused.

 

[FetherMan]

Miura "owns" his works (Berserk), which means he can release chapters whenever he wants. The publishers can only "publish" the manga, when Miura decides it's time for a new release. This is rare, because most mangaka today, do not have this kind of control of their work. Toriyama and Sonoda as well as the legend himself, Tezuka, owned their works and actually put in more work than most mangaka today, because the technology wasn't there as well as numerous assistants and money.

Manga wasn't as popular then as it is today too and plus the internet has changed the game entirely for anime as well. Miura is also, doing work for the Berserk film projects and I imagine he'd want to work closely with the story for that ( i know, i would) as well as doing some concept art too.

And to be fair Miura, Berserk isn't a weekly or monthly series, it's more like an American comic type scheduled, where you'll get a several issues within 6 months and then, after 3 months pass by, a new issue comes out. If you've seen the level of detail by the way, in these past 20 chapters of Berserk, you can certainly see why, the chapters take quite a while to be released versus some of the art in these weekly and monthly titles, where there is the artist and his 4 to 9 assistants working on the series and it's not nearly done as well as Berserk.

SMH on that one.

 

[Aazholh]

Just because he can release the episodes anytime he wants doesn't mean he should. I don't think there's anyone on here that come up with a legitimate reason for an eighteen-week break between episodes. That's like saying "Oh, he's an artist! If he decides to leave everyone hanging and leave Berserk unfinished then good for him! Hey Didn't we have fun reading the exciting story without an end? At least, we have all this beautiful artwork to enjoy!"

Do you mean to tell me YA couldn't publish one episode a month without exhausting Miura? They come out like three in row. Why not just save them up and release one a month until Miura comes up with three more?

 

[Unholy]

Just because he can release the episodes anytime he wants doesn't mean he should. I don't think there's anyone on here that come up with a legitimate reason for an eighteen-week break between episodes. That's like saying "Oh, he's an artist! If he decides to leave everyone hanging and leave Berserk unfinished then good for him! Hey Didn't we have fun reading the exciting story without an end? At least, we have all this beautiful artwork to enjoy!"

Do you mean to tell me YA couldn't publish one episode a month without exhausting Miura? They come out like three in row. Why not just save them up and release one a month until Miura comes up with three more?

Agreed, seriously half the fan base on this forums and in any other forum kind idolizes the mangakas they like and defend them regardless of how illogical the stuff they are pulling is. Truth be told Berserk dosent come out more often because Miura is freaking lazy, he achieved a very comfortable position having a successful manga with a big fan base and also im guessing here some sort of contract with the publish that forces him to only release a small amount of chapters per year. Im not sure but i think for the pass few years he is releasing around 1 volume every year. Now while after working his ass of he managed to be in a position that he can take things easy, keep the publisher and his readers in Japan happy and make money all i can say is kudos to him, after all not many could do it. What i cant deal with is fans sucking up and justifying that sort of attitude as if he was some poor defenseless man being worked out to death.

 

[jakensama]

I would like to say great art can't be rushed. However I feel the quality of Berserk has gone down somewhat (it is still awesome though) since Muira started taking these huge breaks.

 

[FetherMan]

Just because he can release the episodes anytime he wants doesn't mean he should. I don't think there's anyone on here that come up with a legitimate reason for an eighteen-week break between episodes. That's like saying "Oh, he's an artist! If he decides to leave everyone hanging and leave Berserk unfinished then good for him! Hey Didn't we have fun reading the exciting story without an end? At least, we have all this beautiful artwork to enjoy!"

Do you mean to tell me YA couldn't publish one episode a month without exhausting Miura? They come out like three in row. Why not just save them up and release one a month until Miura comes up with three more?

Well, you also missed the whole point of what I made that he "owns" his works. Which means, he "can" do whatever he wants no matter how you feel it about. Besides, most of us are reading the manga for free anyways when it's first released. It's not like, anyone is going to subscribe to the magazine just for one Berserk chapter to come out, whenever Miura decides he ready to release one.

Fact is, ownership is the key here and I give Miura all respect due, for having complete control over his works, unlike other successful manga artists that have to write their works in order to service a certain fan base, in order for the series to stay relevant. And there's nothing wrong with that either.

Overall, if you can do better, knock yourself out, the man has been dedicated to this series longer than most of the fans (newer most likely) have been alive, were talking 20 plus years, so if he wishes to take his time at this point, he has my blessing.

 

[The Red Dog]

@ Fetherman

Besides, most of us are reading the manga for free anyways when it's first released. It's not like, anyone is going to subscribe to the magazine just for one Berserk chapter to come out, whenever Miura decides he ready to release one.

are you from SkullKnight.net or something ?? with the whole "sWeAr tha Buy Bezrserk on Ya Honor..."

To my knowledge Young Animal is not translated into english.So unless you're capable of reading japanese which I doubt you do,Edited Mangas is the only(temporary) availability to foreign readers like us.

 

[Avid]

Agreed, seriously half the fan base on this forums and in any other forum kind idolizes the mangakas they like and defend them regardless of how illogical the stuff they are pulling is. Truth be told Berserk dosent come out more often because Miura is freaking lazy, he achieved a very comfortable position having a successful manga with a big fan base and also im guessing here some sort of contract with the publish that forces him to only release a small amount of chapters per year. Im not sure but i think for the pass few years he is releasing around 1 volume every year. Now while after working his ass of he managed to be in a position that he can take things easy, keep the publisher and his readers in Japan happy and make money all i can say is kudos to him, after all not many could do it. What i cant deal with is fans sucking up and justifying that sort of attitude as if he was some poor defenseless man being worked out to death.

It's not that I don't feel impatient, but that I admire what he delivers with. It's worth noting that Berserk has taken a toll on his mental health, which has contributed.

 

[Aazholh]

At this pace, it will take another 20 years to finish the story. If we're lucky.

 

[102jayday]

Reading Manga first for free is because we international miss out on our interest which takes so long to release. But I am up to date with my berserk volumes 1~36
If people really like the manga/anime when they see it on the internet, chances are they will buy the international release because they love that series and want a hardcopy.

 

[killy-.-]

Hes got enough money, ppl should have stoped buying old berserk volumes, that would make him start doing new ones.
TBH new generations are growing up and start reading berserk, as good as berserk is Miura propably doesnt have to do anything for the rest of his life , cuz there is always someone whos gonna buy the chapters hes already done.

 

[gphjr14]

Its sad but I'm slowly forgetting about Berserk. This series is what really got me into manga but it takes so long for a chapter to come out that I'm past the point of making up excuses for why its taking so long and just not caring anymore. I've watched the 2 new movies and look forward to the 3rd but honestly there's really no reason for it to take this long when the story has barely progressed in the past year or so. Its like Miura saw Prirates of the Caribbean and figured he'd spend the next few years dragging his feet going no where plot wise.

 

[Aazholh]

Its sad but I'm slowly forgetting about Berserk. This series is what really got me into manga but it takes so long for a chapter to come out that I'm past the point of making up excuses for why its taking so long and just not caring anymore. I've watched the 2 new movies and look forward to the 3rd but honestly there's really no reason for it to take this long when the story has barely progressed in the past year or so. Its like Miura saw Prirates of the Caribbean and figured he'd spend the next few years dragging his feet going no where plot wise.

Well, certain things were established in this side story. We know now for certain the Moonlight Kid shows up every full moon (which is roughly every month in Berserk time - 6 years in our time.) Astral creatures have a hidden name that could be used against them if someone learned it. The Ganishka Tree branches extend across the sky and can be used as an express route back Falconia. The Moonlight Kid is aging at a faster rate and seen from the astral world, his hair has a Griffith quality to it. There's more, but I don't feel like getting into it.

 

[winterwyrm]

Hes got enough money, ppl should have stoped buying old berserk volumes, that would make him start doing new ones.
TBH new generations are growing up and start reading berserk, as good as berserk is Miura propably doesnt have to do anything for the rest of his life , cuz there is always someone whos gonna buy the chapters hes already done.

To be fair some of his pages really are on par with professional artwork, and a lot better than some artwork, though I doubt money is any motivation, most mangaka are very poor, but at the top you can make a ton of money, to compare Oda, the creator of one piece makes $28 million per year and is married to one of the top ten ranked models/actresses in Japan They are as famous as actors, sports superstars and talk show hosts are else ware. I think Miura makes enough to where he probably COULD live off his savings at this point, but wont want to because his standard of living would have to go way down, however since he doesn't have a contract for his manga and can auction a chapter to the publishers whenever he wants to, he isn't terribly motivated to put one out every month because they will definitely buy it every time.

He might actually be trying to make it last as long as possible so that he doesn't have to worry about making a new series that would have a hard time getting established, i.e. the toriyama effect, with the creator of DBZ no less struggling hard to get reestablished in a new series since his big smash hit ended. He has made many one-shots and crossovers and is still coming out with more movies and such to try to keep the money flowing. Conversely if he artificially prolongs the story and drags it out, the quality will suffer, i.e. the Inuyasha effect, where the mangaka was afraid of what they would do after the series ended and dragged it out senselessly and the quality hugely suffered and it was asked to end, hurting his reputation.

It might just be better for him to just ride it out and prolong the series as much as possible, but just throw away a chapter that he doesn't like and make another, better one, and spend a ton of time on it. That's one possible option a mangaka can take.

 

[Ghadji]

Personally, the wait, along with the infrequent nature of releases has partially ruined it for me. I got in to the manga back in 2001, so it isn't new for me. I've read many a thread telling people to piss off for complaining about the delay, and frankly I think that hurts more than it helps. The defenders say the art is great, and that is very true. It's fantastic. However no one looks at manga or comics simply for the art. If the story sucks, people bail. Enough said. People need resolution to an open story, it's simply human nature. If you're going to start to tell a story, you have to deliver. If he wants to release a chapter every six months, great. At least the readers know what they're getting in to and can accept it. Having such an infrequent release where people can't count on following the story they've become invested in is kind of a fuck you to the reader.

While I enjoy Berserk, and think it is one of the best, if not the best mangas ever; I can't like lie and say I love it when I feel little to no involvement with an ongoing story that goes nowhere. The thing that sucks the most is it literally what started me on manga in the first place.

 

[mote]

I gotta respect Miura for refusing to work at the sweatshop pace that most mangaka are forced into, but seriously why even bother "serializing" if you're barely releasing 100 pages a year. I wish he'd do like Shirow and just release trades. It would be the same amount of work and way less torturous on us.

 

[gphjr14]

Well, certain things were established in this side story. We know now for certain the Moonlight Kid shows up every full moon (which is roughly every month in Berserk time - 6 years in our time.) Astral creatures have a hidden name that could be used against them if someone learned it. The Ganishka Tree branches extend across the sky and can be used as an express route back Falconia. The Moonlight Kid is aging at a faster rate and seen from the astral world, his hair has a Griffith quality to it. There's more, but I don't feel like getting into it.

Sadly what you've posted took the artist an extremely long time to portray.